Russia and the former Soviet Union account for around 15% of world wheat exports.

33% of the world's grain production is fed to animals according to One World.

The world's population has tripled in size since the 1930s.

A weaker dollar makes ag commodities cheaper for importers, pushing up demand. A fall in the dollar tends to raise the price of grain in dollars — but it also tends to reduce the price of grain in euros, for example.

In September 2010, Indonesians and Philippines spend as much as half of their household budgets on food; in China and India over one-third.

Iowa farmland: 74 percent of Iowa farmland is paid for, and 54 percent of Iowa's farmland is rented or farmed by non-owners.

Africa: Since the 2008 food crisis external governments have acquired a total of 2,492,684ha of land in Ethiopia, Sudan, Ghana, Madagascar and Mali.

Grocery store prices (in the U.S.) increased 0.7% from July 2009 to July 2010. However these price increases are well below the 1997-2006 average annual food and beverage retail price increase of 2.5%. Restaurant prices increased 1.1% from July 2009 to July 2010, well below the typical 3% increase which means restaurants are passing along lower food costs to consumers.

More than 57 percent of nitrogen and 86 percent of potash used in the U.S. is imported (2008 data), and the U.S. is a major phosphorus exporter. The costs to produce and transport fertilizers are highly dependent on energy costs, so fertilizer costs are directly related to energy costs.

Total costs for 2011 are expected to be near $4.00 a bushel for corn; $9.50 for soybeans; and $6.00 for wheat. These estimated costs include all the variable costs to produce the crop as well as machinery depreciation, cash rent, and family living expenses.

Globally, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that a full third of all fruit and vegetables never reach the consumer at all because they perish in fields, in storage, or en route.

The U.S.'s top cattle feeding states are: Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Iowa

Top pork producing state: Iowa

For livestock, about 16 per cent of the nearly 4000 breeds recorded in the twentieth century had become extinct by 2000, and a fifth of reported breeds are now classified as at risk.

Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of coffee and sugar, the second-largest soybean producer and the third-largest exporter of corn.

Argentina is the second-largest corn shipper and the third-largest grower of soybeans.

ENERGY:

Railroads can move one ton more than 480 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel.

According to David Murphy, the average EROI for corn ethanol is 1.07 with a standard error of 0.1.

Iowa is the nation’s largest producer of ethanol, with 40 plants that produce more than one-quarter of the 12 billion gallons of ethanol that are blended with unleaded gasoline.

One bushel of the grain distills into about 2.75 gallons of ethanol.

Wind energy is currently is producing more than 76,000 GWh of electricity onto the US grid. (2010)

Hydropower provides 16% of electricity globally, but only 7% in the U.S.

Fertilizer accounts for 20 percent of U.S. farm energy use.

In the U.S., close to 19 percent of farm energy use is for pumping water.

Agriculture accounts for only 20% of the energy used in the U.S. food system.